David Warner signed off from Test cricket in inimitable style with a powerful half-century to drive Australia to victory in the third Test and ensure a 3-0 clean sweep against Pakistan.
Warner hit 57 from 75 balls, falling with Australia 11 short of victory at the SCG, and walked off to a standing ovation on his home ground. “It meant the world to me,” he said. “I’ve given absolutely everything to play this game, and sacrificed a lot of things. Lots of ups and downs and I have had to come back and overcome adversity. I think I’ve done that very, very well. Today just showed to me that I do have a lot of support. I’m very grateful and very thankful for that.”
Warner retired fifth on Australia’s all-time run scorer’s list with 8,786, an average of 44 and 26 hundreds. The debate now turns to who replaces him at the top of the order with Steve Smith this week making a surprise bid for the job as he looks for a new challenge in the final years of his career. Cameron Green, the all-rounder, is another mooted partner for Usman Khawaja along with Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft, who have both been tried and dumped in the past. Replacing Warner is going to be difficult and there are concerns over the depth in batting in Shield cricket.
“I’m pretty happy with his (Smith’s) output at No 4,” said Australia captain Pat Cummins. “Obviously Marnus (Labuschagne), Smudge (Smith), Trav (Head) and Mitchell Marsh have been pretty impressive at Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 so first instinct isn’t probably to disrupt that. It’s obviously going to be really hard to replicate Davey and what he’s brought to it. In Test cricket there are some things that remain true – and that is you’ve got to be putting the pressure on the opposition. You’ve got to be ticking over the scoreboard but realistically, if anyone is scoring runs in Shield cricket, it’s probably a good sign they can do it at the next level.”
Australia’s next Test starts on Jan 16 against West Indies in Adelaide. Warner hopes to play in the Twenty20 World Cup in June, after which he will retire from international cricket. It was an emotional week for Warner, who was reunited with his baggy green cap after day two of the SCG Test following an appeal on social media when he realised it had been lost in transit from Melbourne. No details were released about what actually happened to his cap.
Warner’s punchy fifty ensured an Australia victory in a hard-fought Test, with Pakistan putting up resistance in both Melbourne and Sydney after a crushing defeat in the first Test in Perth. Pakistan took a first-innings lead in Sydney and were building a decent target, before Josh Hazlewood took three wickets in an over at the end of day three.
Pakistan were only able to set 130 and with Warner backed up by Labuschagne, unbeaten with 62 off 73 balls, it was a cruise to the finish line. The result puts Australia top of the World Test Championship table with England one place off the bottom.
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